Press Release 24 February 2011

24th February 2011 1:33 pm

Scottish Friends of Palestine welcomes and commends the recent action of campaigning journalist, David Cronin, in his attempt to make a citizen’s arrest of Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman at the recent meeting between the EU and Israel.

WHY I TRIED TO ARREST AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN

By David Cronin, Live from Palestine, 22 February 2011

If apartheid is a crime, there is only one way to treat its practitioners: arrest them. That is precisely what I tried to do when I confronted Avigdor Lieberman, the architect of a series of laws designed to make Israeli apartheid even more draconian than it already is.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11824.shtml

Lieberman, with his racist and fascist ideology, is merely the recent manifestation of right wing Zionism, a political force which, since its inception, has denigrated and attacked the Palestinian people and their rights.

At a time when the world is wondering how it can support the Arab “street” as it struggles for democracy, it is nothing short of criminal that the EU should seek to continue and extend its association with Israel while the Palestinian people and their land continue to be occupied and ethnically cleansed – in areas such as the Jordan Valley, Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah and al Bustan in East Jerusalem. With the EU currently Israel’s leading commercial partner it is an abomination that both sides have pledged to move forward in the 11-year partnership that involves trade, agriculture, R&D and police and judicial cooperation.

Scottish Friends of Palestine will question Scotland’s cooperation with the EU in these matters and welcomes the presence and contribution from David Cronin at their forthcoming Spring conference Boycott Israel – will Scotland lead the way?

Scottish Friends of Palestine is a firm advocate of the total boycott of all Israeli institutions, academic and cultural bodies and Israeli products – until as such times that the Israeli state ceases to boycott the rights of the Palestinian people, and international law as it pertains to the Palestinian people. Visit www.easi-piesi.org to find out what you can do.